Figure it Out
by starbook
Summary: Desperate attempts made by Chaylor, Jelsi, Zekepay and Ryan to get Troy and Gabriella together. Will they work? Troyella TxG Better than it sounds! I'm really bad at summaries. Please give it a chance and R&R!
1. The Planning Committee

Figure it Out

**Figure it Out**

**Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical...unfortunately.**

**--**

As Sharpay and Kelsi walked through the doors of East High towards their lockers, they were engaged in a heated argument.

"It's simple!" Sharpay exclaimed, clearly exasperated. "All we have to do is play a simple game of Truth or Dare. If they pick truth, we ask them if they like each other. If they pick dare, we dare them to kiss each other. It's been done many times!"

"I don't know..." Kelsi said quietly. Though Sharpay and Kelsi were friends, they were opposites in terms of personality. Sharpay was an extrovert, where as Kelsi was quiet and reserved, although she was learning to speak out. "I just don't think that we should interfere. I mean...surely, if they're meant to be together –"

"Wait," Sharpay interrupted. "_If_ they're meant to be together? You have _got_ to be kidding me. Those two are the most _obvious_ and _oblivious_ people in the world! They're so completely infatuated with each other...and yet they refuse to admit their feelings!" She paused. "Well, they told us, but that doesn't count. They have to tell _each other_! I keep telling Gabriella that she should just go for it and that Troy loves her, but does she ever listen to me? _NO!!_"

The last word was so loud that everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing and stared at Sharpay. Kelsi, who was standing right beside her, blushed and looked at the floor, but Sharpay calmly looked around at everyone. "Nothing to see here...go back to your business...it's just me being me." As the last few curious people turned their backs on her, Sharpay gave a frustrated sigh. "You'd think they'd know better by now...it's not like me yelling in public is anything new."

Somebody laughed behind her, and Sharpay turned around. Gabriella stood there, trying her best to keep a straight face. "Well, Sharpay, I don't think that they were just looking because you yelled. I think you're a regular source of entertainment. I mean, think of the last time you yelled in the hall. When was that?"

Glaring at her, Sharpay managed to mutter a response through her growing embarrassment. "Yesterday."

"Right. And remind me...what was the reason, again?"

Now Sharpay was turning an interesting shade of red. "My alarm clock was set on the wrong tune. I like to be woken up to _Wake Up Call_ by Maroon 5...not _You Are My Sunshine_! You have to admit, that song gets annoying after a while."

Gabriella raised her eyebrows. "Whatever you say..."

Sharpay gave her a haughty look and stalked off, followed by Kelsi.

Gabriella followed her. "Come on, Shar, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you that much. Anyways, what was the reason this time?"

Sharpay and Kelsi exchanged looks.

"Ummm...Darbus assigned too much homework"

Gabriella gave her a sympathetic glance. "I know...it just seems to get worse every day, doesn't it?"

"Is this _Gabriella_ talking?"

Gabriella smiled softly before turning to face one of her best friends...and the love of her life. "What does it look like to you?" She put her hands on her hips. "And what did you want me to say, Troy? 'No, I think there's next to no homework and it's easy'? Well, maybe it is, but..." She trailed off.

Troy grinned. "Now, that's more like it! That's the Gabriella I know." He stepped towards her and engulfed her in a hug. It lasted a little longer than a regular hug between friends, but Gabriella wasn't complaining. Sharpay looked pointedly at Kelsi, as if to say '_See what I mean?'_

"Now, I don't know about you...but I'm going to class. I don't want another detention...despite how enjoyable they can be sometimes." Troy winked at Gabriella, and she blushed. She remembered all too well some of their detentions. During one of them, they had spent twenty minutes in a tree that they were supposed to be attaching leaves to, just talking, until Gabriella fell asleep on Troy's shoulder. She had spent all of the night before studying for a Chemistry test. She grimaced, remembering Mrs. Darbus's expression when she found them.

When the four of them got into class, they saw that Chad, Zeke, Jason, Taylor and Ryan were already seated. Mrs. Darbus immediately turned around.

"Ah, so nice of you to join us, Bolton and crew! Please take a seat, as today, we will be exploring the differences in drama teaching across the country..."

She continued talking in this manner, and Troy soon zoned out. His eyes wandered to where they normally did at times like these: Gabriella. She was one of the few people who actually seemed to be listening to Mrs. Darbus. Her hands were clasped together on her desk, and she fixed the teacher with a focused gaze. Troy's eyes grew soft as he continued to watch her, thinking of all the good times they had shared and fantasizing about the day he would eventually get the courage to admit his feelings...

_RING!_

What sounded like five or six different cell phones started ringing all at once, and Troy groaned. He knew that one of his friends had decided to call everyone in their "gang," and that more than half of them would likely end up in detention. He surreptitiously slipped his cell phone out of his backpack and checked it. No, whoever it was hadn't called him. Feeling a mix between relief and confusion, Troy casually leant down and put his phone back. Just as he finished, Mrs. Darbus turned and looked at him.

"Bolton, was that your phone?"

Troy shook his head, and Darbus moved on with her investigations. It turned out to be Sharpay who had called everyone, and Mrs. Darbus caught everyone except for Gabriella checking their cell phones. Before she could launch into her all too familiar reprimanding speech, the bell rang. Everyone was out of their seats in an instant, barely hearing her last call:

"Danforth, McKessie, Baylor, Sharpay, Ryan, Jason and Kelsi: I will see you all in detention!" No one knew when Mrs. Darbus would call you by your first name or by your last name. Either seemed to happen according to the phases of the moon.

Troy waited for Gabriella outside the classroom, and when she came out and saw him, he grinned. "That was so close! Darbus nearly caught me checking my phone. But Sharpay didn't call me." A puzzled expression came over his face. "I wonder why. She called everyone else..."

"She didn't call me, either." Gabriella frowned. Then she shrugged. "Oh well. I guess it's just one of the many things about Sharpay that we will never understand. Like her reasons for yelling in the hallways." She started laughing. "Did you hear the excuse she had for yesterday?"

"I don't even _want_ to know." Troy groaned and shook his head. "That Sharpay..." He trailed off, as a wonderful thought had just come into his head. Gabriella seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because she seemed to suddenly find her hands fascinating.

"Ummm...well...it seems we're the only two people who don't have detention."

Troy smiled: she was so cute sometimes. "Yeah...so do you want to come over to my place after school? We could do all the usual things."

Gabriella grinned. Usually, when they spent time together at their houses, they would do their homework, watch a movie and just talk to each other: something they never got tired of doing. They would also always have at least one "fight," where they would run around the house chasing each other. This sometimes involved water balloons and snow, depending on the weather.

"Of course. And you'd better not joke that my handwriting is messy again!"

Troy chuckled as they walked to their next class. They were standing very close together, almost touching. Seven people hidden around a corner noticed and shook their heads.

"We have to do something!" Sharpay hissed. "They've known each other for long enough to figure out their feelings and admit them to each other. They've done the first part by themselves, but the second part isn't going to come unless we step in."

Again, Kelsi showed her cautious side. "I don't know...don't you think we should just let it happen? Maybe they're not ready if they can't admit it by themselves. If we step in, it might just make it worse."

"I'm all for it!" Chad exclaimed. "It's for their own good. Besides, I don't think I'm going to be able to listen to Troy talk about how amazing Gabriella is and how much he wishes he could just ask her out one more time without screaming." He paused. "Or I could cut my hair as a protest."

Taylor snorted. "Would you actually cut your hair, Chad? Think about what you're saying."

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "Think about how hard you worked to get it to that length. It might take _ages_ to grow back"

"Okay, okay!" Chad defended, unconsciously putting his hands on his head. "Not touching the hair. We all know that that would be the end of the world." He looked around at them all with a completely serious expression.

Sharpay rolled her eyes. "Right...okay...back to the point. So I suggest I host a sleepover and we play Truth or Dare. Of course, Ryan would suggest the game to make it less obvious." She gave Ryan a threateningly sweet smile. "Right, Ryan?"

"Sure," Ryan muttered. "Not like I could refuse, anyway. The last time I tried that, half my hats went missing."

"How about tomorrow after school?" Sharpay suggested. "Since all of us have detention today."

Zeke groaned. "Yeah, thanks to you! You suggested that in your text!"

Sharpay gave him puppy dog eyes. "Yeah, but you know you love me..."

Zeke looked away and muttered "Can't argue with that one."

"Okay, break it up!" Chad ordered. "You can have your romantic moment some other time. We need to get to class before we get detention tomorrow, too."

Taylor gave him a withering look. "I _would_ hit you, except for the fact that you actually made a good point. Careful next time."

Chad rolled his eyes and started walking to his next class. "The things I put up with..."


	2. Plans 1 and 2

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical

**Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical...unfortunately.**

--

"Do you ever think I'm an idiot?"

Troy and Gabriella were sitting on Troy's bed, talking to each other and asking random questions. They both loved doing this, because it was always a good opportunity to find out more about the other person, and to just have some time to themselves.

"Hmmmm..." Gabriella twirled her pencil in her hand above her Math notebook, apparently thinking. Then she looked up at him. "Yes."

Troy put a hand to his heart, pretending to be wounded. "That hurt, you know!" Then a mischievous glint came into his eyes. "And it was the wrong answer."

Before Gabriella knew what was happening, Troy had picked her up and was carrying her down the stairs. She hit his back with her fists, but it made no difference. He was just about to throw her down on the couch, when the phone rang. He rolled his eyes and set her down gently. "That phone always ruins my fun."

She smiled. "I'm starting to like it."

He laughed and picked it up. "Hello...Oh, hey, Sharpay!...Tomorrow?..._I_ can make it...Okay, fine." He took the phone from his ear and turned to Gabriella. "Sharpay's having a sleepover tomorrow after school. Can you go?"

Gabriella nodded, and he put the phone to his ear again. She watched him, sighing inwardly. She knew that he didn't like Sharpay as anything more than a friend, but...she couldn't help thinking that he was more likely to date Sharpay than her. He laughed at something she said on the phone and Gabriella winced. She longed for the day when he would realize that they were perfect for each other and ask her out. Of course, she knew that she could just tell him her feelings...but she would prefer it if he did first. The good thing was that Sharpay was dating Zeke, and they seemed to be perfectly happy together.

Troy got off the phone. "She said to go over there at around 5-ish. And she said that everyone else can make it."

Gabriella pushed away her dark thoughts and smiled. "Sounds like fun."

Troy moved towards her, and Gabriella's breath caught. "Now, where were we?"

And then they started running again.

**--**

The next day, at ten to five, Troy picked Gabriella up to drive her to Sharpay's. Gabriella smiled at him as she slid into the front seat. Troy noticed this as he started the car. "Why the smile?"

She silently cursed herself for letting her thoughts get away with her again. "Oh, I'm just happy to see you. And happy you're not Chad."

Troy snorted. "Happy I'm not Chad. Right. I am too, for many reasons."

Gabriella blushed and looked down, so she didn't see Troy's smile. "No, it's just...you know what Chad's driving is like. I'm amazed that he passed."

"Aren't we all," Troy declared, and Gabriella giggled. Most of the rest of the drive was spent in comfortable silence, but Gabriella brought up the sleepover just as they turned in to Sharpay's drive.

"I sincerely hope we're not playing Seven Minutes in Heaven tonight. Remember the last sleepover? We only _just_ talked her out of that one." She shuddered.

_I wouldn't mind it if I got paired with you,_ Troy thought, but he didn't say so out loud. Instead, he laughed. "Yeah, I know. Let's try and vote out of that one again, okay?"

Gabriella agreed just as they met Sharpay at the door.

"Hey, guys! Come on in! You can take your stuff with you – we're sleeping on the main floor. Ryan was just suggesting we play Truth or Dare...weren't you, Ryan?" she asked, as they walked into the room.

"Yeah, I was..." Ryan said, but he didn't sound convincing. Troy and Gabriella both knew that it was probably Sharpay's original idea.

"Anyways, we all agreed, so I'm going to start," Sharpay declared, seating herself on the floor. "Gabriella, truth or dare?"

And Gabriella knew, with sudden, painful clarity, what Sharpay intended to do. So she hastily refused both. "Ummm...aren't we doing the other thing, too? Barn's on Fire or Stuck on an Island? You can't have Truth or Dare without one of those," she said, nudging Troy ever so slightly. She knew, of course, that you _can_ have Truth or Dare without one of those, but she wasn't about to say so.

"Ummm...yeah, I vote we do that, too," Troy said, noticing Gabriella's distress. He knew that she had guessed what Sharpay was going to ask her or dare her to do, and that she wasn't comfortable with it. "It makes the game more, uh, interesting."

Kelsi felt bad for her friend and still felt that they should leave Troy and Gabriella to sort it out themselves, so she voted for the third category, as well.

Sharpay was getting impatient. "No, those two categories are boring. _And_ they're too easy," she stated. "Besides, Gabriella, you don't even know what I'm going to ask yet."

Gabriella gave her a look that said _'I have a pretty good idea.'_

Taylor also felt bad, and she thought that Sharpay's solution was too obvious and wasn't going to work. So she said "I vote for the third category, too. It _will_ make it more interesting."

Taylor and Kelsi then looked at each other and simultaneously turned to their boyfriends. In a very short amount of time, due to their girlfriends' pleading, Jason and Chad had voted for the third category as well.

"Ugh!" Sharpay exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "Fine...I can see that I'm outnumbered...but then, there's no real point in playing Truth or Dare anymore. Can we just watch a movie?"

No one really protested to this idea, so Sharpay made to put in _Sydney White._ But Taylor stopped her. "No, I don't think we should watch that one. I think we should watch something a little more...scary." Taylor's eyes glinted, and Sharpay knew at once what she was up to. She nodded to indicate that she understood. Taylor reached into the cabinet under the TV with the movies inside it and pulled out _King Kong._ **(A/N: Is anyone else an Adrien Brody fan?) **"How about this?"

Sharpay nodded, and looked meaningfully around the room at everyone. Gabriella and Kelsi were the only people who said no to _King Kong_, so Sharpay put it in the DVD player. She then went and sat beside Zeke on the couch. Kelsi was sitting in an armchair with Jason. Chad had his head in Taylor's lap on the floor. Ryan was lying down beside them with his chin in his hands. Troy and Gabriella were sitting on their sleeping bags, side by side on the floor. They were both uncomfortably aware of the couples surrounding them, but they pretended not to notice.

When Ann was getting sacrificed to Kong, Gabriella scooted closer to Troy. He put an arm around her shoulders, hoping that it seemed casual. Soon, Gabriella had her head buried in Troy's chest, and she was sitting on top of him. He whispered reassurances in her ear while Taylor watched them with a smirk on her face.

By the end of the movie, everyone was asleep except for Sharpay, Taylor and Kelsi. The three of them glanced at Troy and Gabriella, who were curled up together in the same sleeping bag. **(A/N: It was one of those big ones.)** They didn't know that Troy and Gabriella often shared sleeping spaces, so they all went to sleep thinking that they would be together in the morning.

But the only eventful thing that happened the next day was a debate on whether Kong or Jack Driscoll was better for Ann in the movie. Troy and Gabriella were the first two people up, and when the gang questioned them about their night, they found that they were still only friends. Taylor and Sharpay both had frowns on their faces, and Chad was thinking hard about his own plan...


	3. Plan 3

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical

**Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical...unfortunately.**

**--**

Chad's plan, he explained to everyone later, was very simple. He had two tape recorders. The girls would take one, and the boys would take the other. Then, they would pressure Troy and Gabriella to admit their feelings and get it on tape. And those tapes would _accidentally_ end up in Troy's and Gabriella's bags.

Taylor didn't like it, and she told Chad so right away. "Remember the last time we tried something like this? With the computers? Troy and Gabriella both ended up extremely depressed and their relationship was nearly ruined –"

Chad interrupted. "Tay, they don't _have_ a relationship yet! Or, at least, not the one they_ should_ have. And this time, we're not trying to break them apart – we're trying to get them together! Surely there's nothing wrong with that. And, as I recall, your plan didn't turn out so well."

Taylor blushed. "How was I supposed to know that they share sleeping space all the time? And I still don't like it."

"Well, do you see any other alternatives?"

Taylor looked down. "No...I guess we'll have to try your plan, since there isn't any other one yet."

The others agreed, so the next day at school, Chad brought the tape recorders.

"Where'd you even _get_ these tape recorders, anyway?" asked Zeke.

"Uhhh...from...never mind. I have them now, and they're being put to great use, so that's all that matters."

Zeke raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, _fine_. Remember Chris?"

They all nodded. Chris was Chad's older brother. He was finishing up his last year at university.

"Well, when I was younger...I caught Chris kissing a girl. This was a while ago. And he made me _swear_ not to tell anyone. After a while, he saw that I had kept my word...so he gave me the tape recorders in return. So what if he didn't get them...well...honestly? Or, at least, I don't think he did."

They all rolled their eyes. Typical Chad.

"Okay," Sharpay said, once again taking control. "Hand it over, please. Let's hope that this third plan actually works."

**With the Girls:**

"Hey, Gabriella," Sharpay said, as she, Taylor and Kelsi approached her.

Gabriella jumped and turned around. "Oh! Hi, guys. Didn't see you there."

Sharpay smiled: this was going well. "Thinking about Troy again?" she asked, as she stealthily pressed record on the machine in her pocket.

Gabriella sighed. "Yeah. I wish he'd just ask me out, already."

"You know, you _could_ admit your feelings to him yourself," said Taylor.

"We've talked about this," Gabriella said wearily. "He doesn't think of me the way I think of him. I know that, so I'm not going to tell him anything. The situation where he asks me out is only going to happen in my fantasy world."

"You never know," Kelsi said quietly. "He may love you back."

"No," said Gabriella firmly. "I know he doesn't. He'd more likely love one of you...and you all have boyfriends and obviously don't have feelings for him. I'm just going to have to keep dreaming. All I can say is thank God he's single...for now."

The girls shook their heads sadly and murmured their condolences, so no one except Sharpay heard the tape recorder click.

Then Taylor moved to the window of the classroom that they were in. "Oh, look! There's Troy!"

"Where?" Gabriella asked, and rushed to the window.

"Oh, he just went out of sight...but I know where he is...let's go down and meet him!" Taylor suggested.

"Okay!" Gabriella brightened up instantly. "Coming, guys?"

"I'll be right there," Sharpay said. "Good luck, Gabriella!"

Gabriella turned and glared at her before running after Taylor with Kelsi in tow.

**With the Guys:**

"Hey, man," said Chad. When he walked into the locker room, the tape recorder was already on. "How're you holding up?"

"Holding up?" Troy frowned as he looked at his four friends. "What do you mean?"

"With the whole Gabriella situation," Zeke prompted.

Troy sighed. "She obviously only thinks of me as one of her best friends...so all I can do is try my best to make her as happy as possible and not give away the fact that I'm completely in love with her."

Chad gave a small smile: there was his confession!

"You know," Jason said to Troy, "I have a feeling that she loves you like you love her."

"No," Troy smiled sadly. "You'll probably get her, Ryan," he tried to joke. He hated the idea, though. Since Ryan was the only one single out of the four guys, Troy felt that he posed the greatest threat.

"No way!" Ryan protested. "I only like her as a friend, nothing more. I know you two are destined for each other." Then there was a click.

"What was that?" Troy asked.

"What was what?" came four answers.

Troy frowned. "Nothing..." he muttered. "I must just be hearing things."

"Anyways..." Zeke tried to change the subject. "I think Taylor said that Gabriella's going to be waiting for us near the doors. Want to go find her?"

"Sure!" Troy smiled at the idea of seeing Gabriella.

"I'll just stay behind for a minute. I think I lost a gym shirt in here," Chad said. "I'll catch up with you later."

"All right, see you!" said Troy as Zeke, Jason and Ryan ushered him out the door.

**--**

Sharpay and Chad both had their tape recorders in their hands as they ran through the halls of East High. They were both looking at them, making sure that they didn't drop the valuable evidence. Maybe this was why they crashed headlong into each other.

"Ahhh!" Sharpay cried, as the tape recorder flew out of her hands. Chad dived across her path to try and retrieve his tape recorder, but she put her hand out to stop him, enraged.

"What do you mean by running into me and making me drop the recorder?" she shouted.

"The recorders!" was all Chad said, and Sharpay remembered the evidence. Rushing to the spot where the two recorders lay, they each picked one up and examined them. There were no dents or any other sign of damage on either of them.

"Thank God!" Sharpay breathed. Then she turned and glared at Chad. "If we had more time, I'd kill you now, Danforth! But we don't, so I'll get you later." She then flew down the hall towards the locker room. She was undaunted going in there, because after all, she used to be the Ice Queen. She successfully slipped the recorder into Troy's bag and slipped back out of the locker room to join the rest of the gang.

Chad raced to the classroom where the girls had talked and found Gabriella's bag on a desk in the middle of the room. Once he had put the tape recorder in her bag, he sneaked around the school to the doors to meet everyone else.

**--**

Gabriella raced back to the classroom. She was disgusted with herself for being so careless with her bag. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found it, but she knew that someone could have easily been inside it. When she opened her bag, she found a small black object inside it. She frowned as she pressed play on the tape recorder.

_"Thinking about Troy again?"_

_ "Yeah. I wish he'd just ask me out, already."_

_"You know, you _could_ admit your feelings to him yourself." _

_"We've talked about this. He doesn't think of me the way I think of him. I know that, so I'm not going to tell him anything. The situation where he asks me out is only going to happen in my fantasy world."_

_"You never know. He may love you back."_

_"No. I know he doesn't. He'd more likely love one of you...and you all have boyfriends and obviously don't have feelings for him. I'm just going to have to keep dreaming. All I can say is thank God he's single...for now."_

Gabriella was shocked and angry. She knew that that section of the school had been deserted when that conversation had taken place, so the recording had to have been done by Taylor, Kelsi or Sharpay. But why would any one of them put the recorder in her bag?

**--**

"Bye, Chad," Troy called to the retreating back of his best friend. They had just had a long and grueling basketball practice, and Troy was tired. He was taking off his shirt when he saw his bag on the bench. _That's funny,_ he thought. _I must've left it there. That's not like me at all._ Troy was usually very careful with his possessions.

He opened his bag to put his gym shirt away and found the tape recorder inside. He looked around, but he was the only one left in the locker room. _Well, since it was in my bag, I figure I have a right to hear it,_ he thought.

_"Hey, man. How're you holding up?"_

_"Holding up? What do you mean?"_

_"With the whole Gabriella situation." _

_ "She obviously only thinks of me as one of her best friends...so all I can do is try my best to make her as happy as possible and not give away the fact that I'm completely in love with her."_

_"You know, I have a feeling that she loves you like you love her."_

_"No. You'll probably get her, Ryan." _

_"No way! I only like her as a friend, nothing more. I know you two are destined for each other."_

So _that_ was what that clicking sound was! And Jason, Zeke, Ryan and Chad had acted as if they hadn't heard it! Troy knew that they were behind the recording, but he wasn't as concerned as Gabriella was. He was mostly relieved that Gabriella hadn't been the one to find it. As he drove home, he thought about the reason why his friends would leave a recording like that with him, but he couldn't come up with any.

**--**

As soon as Gabriella got home, she dialed Taylor's number.

"Hello?"

"Taylor! I can't believe you!"

"Whoa, Gabriella, what –"

"I found a recording of our conversation from earlier in my bag!" Gabriella fumed. "It had everything I said in it – including me talking about loving Troy! What if it went into the wrong hands? What if Troy _himself_ had found it before I did?" Then, a truly frightening possibility occurred to Gabriella. "Oh my God...what if someone else has already been in my bag? I left it in the classroom after our conversation...that gives people plenty of time to go through my stuff...what if someone heard it and told Troy?"

"Gabriella! Calm down," Taylor commanded. "That's not possible."

"How is it not possible?" Gabriella asked anxiously.

"It _was_ a plan...a plan to get you and Troy together. That's why Sharpay hung back...she was supposed to deliver the recording into _Troy's_ bag, not yours. And at the same time, one of the boys..." she was careful not to mention Chad's name, "was supposed to record Troy confessing his feelings about you and put the recording in your bag. Except apparently, it didn't work."

Gabriella snorted. "I'll say. I still can't believe you! Troy doesn't love me, okay? It would have _ruined_ our friendship! Remember what happened during the auditions for Twinkle Towne? Didn't that teach you _anything_?"

"I didn't like the plan to start with," Taylor admitted guiltily. "But I went along with it because you guys are so _clueless_! He loves you! I know he does! And if our plan had worked, then you would know! It's just that you guys are so stubborn!"

Taylor had been steadily increasing in volume, and by the end of her speech, she was practically shouting into the phone. Gabriella was so surprised that she couldn't think of anything to say. Taylor rarely ever shouted.

"I have to go," Taylor said. "I need to call Sharpay and find out what went wrong in the delivery. See you tomorrow." And with that, she hung up.

The next day, Sharpay called an "emergency" meeting for all the planners and explained what had happened. After she and Chad had collided, they had picked up the wrong recordings. So not only did the third plan fail, Sharpay fumed, but Gabriella was now on to them.

"We're going to have to be more careful now," Sharpay said. "More subtle in our plans. Because we can't let this go...those two _need_ to be together!"

"I have an idea," said Kelsi. "Why don't we just _leave them alone?_ These plans failed for a _reason_! They need to work this out _by themselves_, and that's what I've been trying to tell you guys all along! Why don't we just leave them to their own devices for a while?"

In all the time that Zeke, Chad, Sharpay, Taylor, Ryan and Jason had known Kelsi, she had _never_ spoken with such agitation.

"All right," Sharpay said slowly. "We'll do it your way. But only for a week. And if it doesn't work by then, we're going back to the plans."

"Two weeks," said Kelsi.

"A week and a half," said Taylor.

So a week and a half it was.


	4. Plan 4

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical

**Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical...unfortunately.**

**--**

Usually, when Gabriella walked through the school doors in the morning, she was the image of confidence. Her walk, like many things about her, was focused and steady, and she would only hesitate on the way to her locker to stop and chat with her friends.

But the day after she had talked to Taylor on the phone, she kept looking from left to right, as if expecting someone to throw something at her. Her eyes were narrowed and her hands, usually by her sides, were raised higher in a defensive gesture. The first person to notice this, of course, was Troy.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her, walking towards her to give her a hug.

She hugged him briefly, then pulled back. Troy noticed that she looked embarrassed. _Embarrassed? No way. I _really_ need to know what's going on. She seemed fine yesterday, and school hasn't even started yet!_

"It's nothing," she muttered, looking down. "Just...nothing."

"I hope you know me better than that," Troy laughed. "You're not going to shake me off that easily."

Gabriella knew that she and Troy told each other everything, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him that their friends were trying to get them together. So she lied, even though she hated to do it.

"I made a really stupid mistake on my homework yesterday, and I only just managed to correct it. One mistake like that could be the difference between a pass and a fail."

Troy knew that this wasn't really what was wrong, but he decided to leave it alone for the time being.

"You were probably just tired. It can happen to anyone...and it certainly happens to you least of all." He smiled at her. "Don't worry about it."

Unfortunately, just as he said this, the rest of the gang came through the doors. Gabriella stiffened. Troy, sensing her distress, put an arm around her and drew her close to him. He could tell that whatever it was that was wrong had to do with their friends, somehow.

"Why don't we go up to the rooftop garden at lunch?" he whispered in her ear. She shivered. "I have something funny to tell you."

She smiled at him gratefully and nodded. It would be a good opportunity for her to calm down...and for her to spend some alone time with Troy.

"Hey guys," Kelsi said quietly. She sensed Gabriella's anger and smiled at her, trying to ease the tension. "Did you all finish that plan for the big English essay?"

"I hate English," Sharpay declared, putting her hands on her hips. "Once I finish school, I swear, I am going to go live in a cave somewhere far away and never speak English again."

"Shar," Ryan said, trying to hide a smile. "Think about what you just said."

You could almost see the gears turning in Sharpay's mind.

"All right!" she yelled, loud enough for the whole hall to hear – once again. "I take it back! They don't have shopping malls in caves, I forgot!"

"Sharpay Evans!" Mrs. Darbus's voice called from the end of the hall. "I appreciate your effort to bring drama into the everyday lives of your fellow students, but I'm afraid that I am going to have to give you _detention_ after school today! No yelling in the halls!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Darbus," Sharpay muttered. Then she turned to the others. "Shoot, you guys won't be with me this time! Detention's not going to be half as entertaining as it usually is..."

Gabriella quickly cut in. "But Sharpay, you wouldn't really want everyone else to get detention just for it to be more entertaining for you, would you?" She didn't want the gang to have enough time alone to make more plans for her and Troy.

Sharpay looked offended. "Of course not! I was just stating a fact."

Troy frowned at Gabriella, and she realized that she hadn't been very tactful.

"Sorry, Shar," she said quietly. "I just have a lot on my mind." She looked at Sharpay pointedly, and Troy noticed.

"That's okay...ummmm...let's go to class," Sharpay said quickly, trying to change the subject before Troy found out the reason behind Gabriella's irritation.

**--**

"So what was the funny thing that you wanted to tell me?"

Gabriella was sitting beside Troy on the bench in the rooftop garden. This was the spot that they always went to when either of them got slightly tired of the rest of the gang's antics, or when they just wanted to spend some alone time together.

Troy smiled and turned so that he was directly facing her. "Oh. Well, I think that Chad and the rest of the guys are trying to prove a point to me."

Gabriella giggled. "And what makes you think that?"

Troy suddenly realized that it was probably not a good idea for him to tell Gabriella that his friends were trying to get him to ask her out, but he was already in too deep.

"Well..." Troy paused. "After basketball practice yesterday, I was in the locker room...and I noticed my bag on the bench. And I realized that I had left it in the room when I went to meet you guys at the doors."

Gabriella smiled, but it seemed strained to Troy. "Yeah?"

"So I opened it..." Troy hesitated, but there was no turning back now. "And there was this...tape recorder inside it. And it had a conversation that I had had with the guys earlier that day recorded on it. I'm guessing it was Chad who did the recording."

It took all that Gabriella had to ask the next question. "What was the conversation about?"

"It was about –" _RING!_

Troy rolled his eyes at Gabriella. "I should probably answer this." He pretended to be annoyed, but both were silently thanking whoever it was who had called for their excellent timing.

"Hello?...Chad..." He turned back to Gabriella and winked. Gabriella smiled and mouthed _"I should have known."_

Troy stood up and started walking. "This had better be important...Yeah...Shut up." He paused. "No, it's just...you always make some sort of comment when I tell you that...Really?...Is this Chad I'm talking to?...Yeah, but...All right. See you in a minute." He hung up with a slight frown on his face and turned back to Gabriella, who was waiting patiently.

"What did he say?" Gabriella asked as Troy sat down beside her again.

"Oh, he just wanted us to go down there and meet them since lunch is almost over," Troy said in a preoccupied tone which Gabriella picked up on.

"What's wrong, Troy?"

He smiled at her. "Oh, nothing's _wrong_...it's just that Chad's been bugging me about something for a while – nothing important – and he's suddenly decided that he supports my decision, whatever it is," Troy said, all the while thinking: _Nothing important. Yeah, right. Only that I'm in love with you and I'm afraid to tell you in case you don't feel the same way._

Gabriella sensed that he didn't want to talk about what the issue was, so she didn't say anything more. Silently, they stood up and walked down the stairs to join their friends.

**--**

Over the next few days, Gabriella treated everyone but Troy warily, in case they were hatching another plan. But she was surprised when, at the end of the week, Sharpay came up to her and told her that from now on, they were going to have a _laissez-faire_ attitude towards her relationship with Troy.

"We figure that if you and Troy are meant to be, you'll admit your feelings to each other yourselves, eventually. And as your friends, we shouldn't be pressuring you to do something you don't want to do," Sharpay explained to a very surprised Gabriella. "But my advice is, if you want it, go for it," she hinted.

So when they all went back to school after the weekend, Gabriella was once again completely relaxed among her friends. Troy was relieved that whatever had seemed to be stressing her was now gone.

But this was not to last, as that Wednesday found a certain seven people having a discussion in the library.

"Okay, Kelsi," Sharpay said to her friend. "Your week and a half is up. Troy and Gabriella are still only friends...and the situation gets more and more desperate by the day. Who thinks we should start up the plans again?"

Everyone raised their hands, even Kelsi, sensing that she was going to be outvoted anyway.

"So, Taylor, Chad, Kelsi and I have already tried to get those two together," Sharpay continued. "It's up to one of you three to save the day." She eyed Zeke, Jason and Ryan. "Who's it going to be?"

"I think I have an idea," said Zeke, never to refuse one of his girlfriend's demands. "Here's the plan..."

**A/N: Ahahaha, cliffy!! I would like to dedicate this chapter to...Splitster7, for reviewing my story! More reviews from everyone are greatly appreciated! I'm going to try and update daily. Sound good? **


	5. Plan 5 and a Misunderstanding

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical

**Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical...unfortunately.**

**--**

"That's not very creative," Sharpay scoffed. "It sounds like Chad's plan with a few changes."

"I'm sorry," Zeke fired back, stung. "But as long as it works..."

"I'm sorry, too," Sharpay murmured, and kissed Zeke on the cheek. "I'm just really frustrated with our situation. I mean, could they be _more_ stubborn? Of course it's a good plan." She smiled at him. "Let's hope it works!"

"Yeah, this is starting to wear me out," muttered Chad. "I'll be glad when this is over and we don't have to watch them make puppy eyes at each other anymore."

"You think that's going to stop when they start going out?" Taylor asked, rolling her eyes. "Think again, idiot! If anything, they'll be even _more_ all over each other!"

"Yeah, Chad," Jason said. "I'll bet you ten bucks that you're going to be telling them to stop with their PDA within a day of them going out."

"You're on!" Chad declared. "Chad Danforth _never_ refuses a bet! In fact, why don't we sweeten the pot a little bit?"

_"No!"_ Taylor snarled, as she grabbed Chad by the arm and dragged him away from their friends. "I don't approve of betting, as a rule. I only put up with it from you to a certain degree. Lunchtime?" she called to the rest of the gang.

"You'd better be ready!" Zeke grinned, confident that his plan would work.

"_Quiet_ in the library please, Mr. Baylor!" hissed Mrs. Falstaff, the librarian.

"I keep trying to tell him, Mrs. Falstaff. It was Ryan, not me!" Zeke insisted, raising his hands in the air as he ducked to avoid Ryan's swing.

**--**

"Troy!" called Chad, out of breath from running. He'd been looking all over the school for his best friend, but he hadn't been able to find him. Finally, he had thought of the rooftop garden and had clambered up the stairs to find Troy sitting down on the bench with his head in his hands.

"What's up, dude?" he asked him. Troy looked up and sighed.

"I just can't stop thinking about Gabriella. I know you guys told me that there was no pressure a couple of days ago, but..." he trailed off. "I still want to be her boyfriend. More than anything."

"Well, hopefully a lunchtime practice will take your mind off it," Chad said. "The rest of the team wants to have one. Are you in? It's not the same without our captain...and now that you don't have the music_ale_ auditions, you have no excuse to miss it."

Troy laughed at Chad's imitation of Mrs. Darbus. "Sure, I'll go," he said. "Right at the beginning of lunch?"

"Yep," Chad grinned. "It feels like we haven't had practice in ages. It'll be nice to shoot some hoops again."

"Yeah, it will," Troy muttered distractedly, his mind still apparently on Gabriella. Chad shook his head at his best friend and a small smile appeared on his face. He turned around and headed back down the stairs to tell the gang: Phase One of Zeke's plan was complete.

**--**

Troy was getting his books at his locker when he felt a pair of hands cover his eyes. "Guess who?" a familiar voice asked.

"Hmmm...let me see...is it Chad?" Troy asked, although he knew perfectly well that it wasn't.

"Nope," Gabriella giggled, making Troy's chest tighten. "Guess again,"

"Mrs. Darbus?" Troy asked, trying not to laugh. He heard a gasp behind him, and the hands came off his eyes. Someone spun him around and smacked his chest. "Excuse me?" Gabriella asked, her eyes showing mock anger.

Troy pretended to be surprised. "Oh, it's _you!_" Well, that's a bit of a disappointment, I have to admit...I mean, who are you compared to our beloved homeroom teacher?"

Gabriella glared at him. "Well, I was _going_ to greet you, but apparently my greetings aren't as good as _our beloved homeroom teacher's._ So never mind," she said, as she started to walk away.

"Hey, I wasn't finished with you! Come back here," Troy demanded, grabbing Gabriella's arm and pulling her towards him. He gave her a tight hug, which she returned. When it ended, she smiled up at him. "How are you, Wildcat?"

_I'm always good, more than good, when I'm with you,_ Troy thought, and smiled at her.

"Ummm...thanks," Gabriella said, raising her eyebrows. Troy blushed, realizing that he'd said his thoughts out loud.

"Well, it's true," he said, closing his locker. Then, attempting to clear up the moment, he said: "You are one of my best friends, after all." He saw a flash of disappointment in Gabriella's eyes before they returned to their normal cheerfulness. _Wait a second...I imagined that. Why would she be disappointed? Yeah, I'm officially losing my mind now, on top of everything else. Great._

As they walked to class, Troy kept staring at Gabriella. To him, she was the most beautiful _anything_ on the face of the earth, both inside and out. She always managed to brighten his day, and she always thought of others before herself. He wanted so badly to just take her into his arms and –

"Hello? Earth to Troy?"

He broke out of his thoughts and met Gabriella's concerned expression. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I just spaced out for a minute there. What were you saying?"

She smiled shyly. "I was just wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me on the rooftop garden again."

"Aww, I'm really sorry, Gabriella, but I can't. I have a basketball practice." Troy smiled sadly at her. "How can I make it up to you?"

"Well, why don't you meet her _after_ the practice? I'm sure that it won't take up _all_ lunch," Sharpay said from behind them, making them both jump. She was using the same tone of voice that she had used when Taylor had approached Gabriella about joining the Scholastic Decathlon team. "Don't you think that's a _great_ idea? I knew you would. It's all settled, then." Sharpay smiled and waved at them before walking away.

Troy and Gabriella stood there with their mouths slightly open. After a few moments, Troy closed his and turned to Gabriella.

"Well, let me take this opportunity to invite you to come see me after the basketball practice...?" he said, making it sound more like a question. Gabriella laughed. "I accept your invitation...?" she said, matching his tone.

"Sharpay's right, the practice shouldn't take up all of our time," Troy reasoned. "Why don't you come at around ten minutes before the end of lunch? That should give us some time to ourselves." Then he lowered his voice and whispered in her ear: "But I'm still going to make it up to you somehow."

Gabriella's heart rate sped up and her breath caught in her throat. She was sure Troy noticed, but if he did, he didn't show it. She swallowed hard before replying.

"Okay, guess I'll see you then."

"And why don't I escort you, Gabriella? Just to make sure that you arrive on time," Taylor suggested from behind them, making Troy and Gabriella jump again. "It's the least I can do. I'll keep my eye on the clock. See you then!" And with that, she walked off in the direction of her next class.

Gabriella looked at Troy and raised her eyebrows.

"Do our friends ever seem a bit strange to you?"

**--**

Zeke passed the ball to Chad, who passed it to Jason. Troy managed to steal it, but as he was doing so, his eyes traveled to the stands. He could almost hear Gabriella cheering him on, like she did at every single one of their games. She would sit in just that spot in the stands, and even though there were always hundreds of people cheering, he would only hear her.

He was so focused on his thoughts of Gabriella that when he shot the ball towards the net, it completely missed. The rest of the team noticed this and exchanged sly smiles.

Zeke crowed inwardly, noticing his opportunity. "Whoa, man, what was that?" he asked, as he retrieved the ball.

Troy turned red. "Sorry...just a lot on my mind."

Zeke smiled knowingly. "About Gabriella?" He turned and passed the ball to Jason, who tried to pass it to Chad but missed.

Troy caught the ball instead and laughed. "How'd you guess?"

"I just know."

Troy suddenly remembered the odd incident about the tape recordings. "Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you guys about something. Did you record our conversation that we had last week about her and put it in my gym bag?"

Meanwhile, outside the gym doors, Taylor and Gabriella waited and listened to the conversation that the boys were having. Gabriella was frowning. So she was on his mind, and the recorded conversation had been about _her_? What had she done wrong?

Back in the gym, Chad smiled sheepishly. "Yeah. It wasn't supposed to go into _your_ bag, though."

Troy figured out what he was hinting and glared at his friends. He was afraid that Chad had another tape recorder and that their plan would be successful this time. "Look, can we just drop the Gabriella subject? It's annoying me, how we always talk about her," he said, hoping to avoid another sticky situation.

Gabriella gasped and tears began to form in her eyes. Without a word, she turned and ran for the exit doors. Taylor sprinted after her. "Gabriella! Wait!"

Gabriella slowed down a bit, and Taylor caught up with her just before the doors. "He didn't mean it the way you think he did!" Taylor said desperately. "He doesn't fine _you_ annoying, trust me!"

"That's what it sounded like," Gabriella sobbed. "I've been on his mind and distracting him from his game. I've obviously done something really wrong...would you mind finding out what it is from Troy? I can't face him right now," she said, tears streaming down her face.

Taylor looked helplessly at her friend. She knew that Gabriella would be inconsolable right now, so all she could do was nod.

"Thanks, Tay," Gabriella said quietly. "I'm sick for the rest of the day, okay? I owe you one." Taylor could only watch as Gabriella turned away and walked slowly through East High's doors towards her home.

After Gabriella was out of sight, Taylor turned and jogged back to the gym doors, where Troy, Chad and the others were just coming out.

"Hey, Taylor," Troy said, smiling. "Where's Gabriella?"

"She left," Taylor said blankly.

The smile quickly faded off of Troy's face. "Left? Why? Is she okay?"

Taylor sighed. "No, to be honest, Troy, she's not okay. She overheard you asking Chad and Zeke to drop the subject of her and saying that it was getting annoying...and she now thinks that you think she _herself_ is annoying. She thinks she's done something wrong, she's going home sick and she wants me to find out from you what she's done to annoy you so that she can correct it."

_"What?"_ Chad and Zeke exclaimed, while Troy just stood there in a stunned silence. Jason's expression was full of concern.

"Taylor, I'm sorry to do this to you, but I'm sick too," Troy said quickly, breaking out of his stupor. "I have to go make things right." And with that, he followed Gabriella's footsteps, running towards the doors.

**--**

"So let me get this straight," Sharpay said slowly, trying to hold back her anger at another "emergency meeting" in the library after school. "Not only does Gabriella now think Troy hates her, but now _Troy_ is also on to us? How much worse can our luck possibly get?"

Chad raised his fist and knocked three times on his head.

Sharpay narrowed her eyes. "What was _that_?"

"I didn't want to tempt fate to make our luck get any worse, so I wanted to knock on wood. But I couldn't find any wood, so I used my head. I figured it would do," Chad said innocently.

Taylor gently maneuvered Chad so that he was facing a bookshelf. "Chad," she said slowly and patiently, "look in front of you and tell me what you see."

"A...bookshelf?" Chad replied.

"Exactly. This room is full of them, correct?"

"Umm...yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Chad, every single one of these bookshelves is made of wood, and there is one not two feet in front of you!"

Chad turned a remarkable shade of red. "About that..." he muttered, "let's just pretend that that never happened, okay?"

Sharpay cleared her throat loudly. "_Anyways_, back to the point," she said, glaring at Chad. "We have now tried out five different plans, hoping to get Troy and Gabriella together, and _every one of them has failed_! This makes me even more desperate to get them together! Does anyone _else_ have an idea?"

Suddenly, Ryan's eyes lit up. "I have a _brilliant_ idea!" he crowed, turning to his sister. "An _amazing_ idea! It's sure to work!"

"All right, Ryan, calm down," Sharpay said dismissively, looking at her nails. "We can't put this..." she coughed, "_amazing_ plan of yours into action until Troy and Gabriella have made up. _That_ is our top priority. If they haven't made up by tomorrow, each and every one of us has to try our hardest to make it happen. Okay?"

Everyone nodded their agreement, including a somewhat put out and reluctant Ryan.

"Let's give them the maximum amount of time we can tonight to try to patch it up by themselves," suggested Kelsi. "So that means no calling tonight. Sound good?"

After this was agreed on, the meeting was adjourned and everyone went home, but their hearts were all full of worry for Troy and Gabriella.

**A/N: All right, another chapter done! This one goes out to crazyandproud344, but thank you to everyone who reviewed! You make me very happy. ******** I'll have the next chapter up soon! Please continue to review!**


	6. Plan 6 and Making Up

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical

**Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical...unfortunately. Cause then I would mysteriously become Gabriella and...yeah. Anyways.**

**--**

Troy was halfway to Gabriella's house when he realized that he had left his car behind at school.

"Aww, man –" he groaned, and started running back. Even though he had just been through a basketball practice and had sprinted halfway to his destination already, he was moving incredibly quickly. He knew that his parents would kill him if he didn't bring his car home, so the sooner he got it, the sooner he could make things right with Gabriella.

Unfortunately, when he got back to the school, he found that luck wasn't on his side.

"Troy!" Mr. Matsui called out, surprised to find that the basketball captain wasn't inside the building like everyone else. "What are you doing? Why aren't you in class?"

"Ummm..." Troy cursed silently as he struggled to remember what his cover story was. "I wasn't feeling well, sir." Then, as he looked around him, he realized that his foot was half in, half out of his car. _Oh, no._ "I was just lying down in my car...but I'm feeling better now, so I thought I would get back to class."

Dave Matsui knew that Troy was probably lying, but he figured that he would probably be in enough trouble for being late as it was. "All right, Troy," he said placidly. "Just next time, if you're not feeling well, please rest in the nurse's office so we know where you are, okay?"

"Okay," Troy smiled sheepishly and got out of his car. The principal escorted him to his next class, and then left him there with a parting "Good luck on your next game, Troy! Whip 'em into shape!"

Troy thanked him, took a deep breath and opened the door.

His teacher was not impressed. "You were sick?" She narrowed her eyes and gave Troy a look that told him that she did not believe him for a second. "I'm sorry, Troy, but you need to go to the nurse's office when you don't feel well so that she can notify your teachers. You'll have to stay behind after school for detention."

Troy, who hadn't been expecting anything less, nodded and sat down, full of misery.

He hadn't been able to make things right with Gabriella. She probably hated him right now...and who could blame her? He remembered, with painful clarity, what he had said to make her upset:

_"Look, can we just drop the Gabriella subject? It's annoying me, how we always talk about her."_

Troy winced. No wonder she was mad. She'd probably go on hating him forever, and he'd never get a chance to ask her out...be her boyfriend...fiancé...husband. Troy knew that someday, he wanted to marry her...but he'd never get the chance now.

He felt something hit his head, and managed to catch it before it dropped to the floor. It was a pencil. He looked up and saw Chad staring intensely at him. Chad pointed to his desk, and Troy looked down. Chad had sent him a note. He opened it and read:

_1: 34 p.m. Why are you here? Is everything all right with Gabriella?_

If Troy hadn't been so unhappy, he might have found the situation funny. Chad always put the time on his notes. It was just one of the many strange things about him. He looked at the time: 1:40. _So _that's_ why he brought out the pencil._

_I forgot my car, and when I came back I got caught by Matsui,_ he wrote. _Now, I'll never be able to ask her out. :( _

He threw the note back to Chad, who immediately started reading it. Soon, he was scribbling furiously. He sent it back Troy's way.

_1: 43 p.m. Of course you will! You'll be able to make it up after detention. You'd better, too. You play badly in this state._

Troy shook his head, a very small smile appearing on his face. Classic Chad. He saw the teacher looking his way and slipped the note into his desk.

**--**

Detention, Troy decided, was a complete and total bore if you didn't have Gabriella by your side.

He was painting the trunk of a tree while he remembered countless detentions that he had been in for various reasons. Before Gabriella came, he had always tried to blow them off or make an excuse not to go, but after their first detention together, he had actually started to like them. _Gabriella can make anything enjoyable,_ he thought, smiling. That smile turned into a frown when he realized that she was upset. _But not if you've been a complete idiot and messed up your friendship with her! I can't wait to get out of here so that I can – _

"Bolton! What are you doing? That's purple paint!"

Troy looked at the tree and, sure enough, saw thick, angry streaks of lilac paint on it. He hadn't realized that he had been painting with that level of ferocity.

Then again, he hadn't realized that the paint was purple, either.

He sighed. _Now I'll never get out of here. I have to fix this up first..._

**--**

It was late when he finally got to Gabriella's house. His parents had made him stay for dinner before he went, and their conversations had seemed twice as long as they normally were.

When he hopped over the balcony railing (the way he came whenever he wanted to apologize) and looked through Gabriella's glass doors, his heart very nearly ripped in two.

There lay Gabriella, on her bed, with her head in her arms. It was obvious that she was crying. Her backpack lay against the wall by the door: the place where she kept it before starting on her homework. After she finished it, Troy knew, she always put it on the other side of the door. A shock ran through him as he realized that she had probably been crying since the end or lunch. _She hasn't even started on her homework yet,_ he thought. _That's not like her at all..._

He gently knocked on the door, and Gabriella's head shot up. When she met his gaze, her eyes filled with fresh tears, but she still got up and came to the door.

"Troy, what are you doing here?" She sounded so broken. Troy wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards him. She started sobbing again, and he never let her go as he brought her to her bed.

"Shhh, Gabriella, it's okay," he murmured, letting her cry against him. "It's okay..." He knew, of course, that it wasn't, but he was hoping that it would be very soon.

Finally, she broke away from him and dried her eyes. "I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"It's okay, Gabriella, you did nothing wrong."

"No, I was annoying you," she said, and tears began to fall from her eyes again. "I didn't mean to, but I was, and I'm sorry for that. I don't know what I did, but I must've done _something_. I know you probably hate me right now, and –"

"Gabriella, I could never hate you," Troy said softly. "I was annoyed by my friends, because they were always pressuring me about you. _They_ were annoying me, not you. Never you. I was trying to get them to stop it, but it came out wrong. I'm _really_ sorry that you had to hear that. I didn't mean for it to come out that way."

Gabriella raised her head and looked at him. "I thought you hated me," she said quietly. "I thought I'd done something wrong."

"Gabriella, who could hate you?" Troy asked her, looking into her eyes. "What reason would _anybody_ have to hate you? You're perfect. You're caring – you always put other people before yourself. Every time you walk into a room, you make everyone feel better just by being there. You're always willing to help others, you're brilliant, you're beautiful –"

_"—and I love you,"_ Troy wanted to say, but he couldn't. The words were there, but he just wasn't able to make them come out of his mouth. He tried, but his fear of rejection that he had harbored and built up ever since meeting Gabriella was stopping him. _Say it, Troy, just say it!_ he screamed at himself, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.

Gabriella looked down. "Thanks, Troy," she said quietly. Inside, she felt like jumping for joy, and she was rapidly inflating with happiness. She felt light-headed, but in a good way. _I love him, I love him, I LOVE HIM!_ she wanted to scream. _He's so amazing...and he just said all those things about me! Does he...?_

But she didn't let her thoughts get much further than that, in case he didn't feel the same way that she did. The thank-you was all she could manage.

Troy coughed, uncomfortably aware of how close he had been to telling her his feelings. He was already in too deep – he had told her far too much already. What was he thinking? She obviously didn't feel the same way. It was clear from her response.

"Uh, well then," Troy stuttered. "I, uh..." He felt extremely awkward. It had never been that way between them before – they never had to think about what they had to say. They always just said whatever was on their minds, or whatever came out. Now, because of him, it was different. _Stupid, stupid, STUPID!_ Then, he thought of something to say.

"I was sure that you were going to hate me," he said. "I'm still a bit surprised you don't, actually. I kept going over what I said in my mind and feeling really bad. And then I didn't get to you until now..."

Gabriella interrupted him. "I was never mad at you," she told him. "I was mad at _myself_...but now I know that I didn't do anything wrong, so everything is fine. And, you know, if you ever feel that way about me – that I annoy you – you just need to tell me what I'm doing wrong, and I'll try to stop. I don't want to lose you," she said seriously.

"That will never happen," Troy vowed. He meant both that Gabriella would never lose him and that he would never be annoyed with her, and he hoped that Gabriella understood.

"Ummm...just a question, though," Gabriella said timidly. "What _did_ take you such a long time to come? I'm glad you came at all, it's just –"

Troy chuckled for the first time in a while. "I know," he reassured her. Then he told her his story.

"...and I'm halfway to your place and I realize: _I've forgotten the car!_ So I run back there because I know Dad'll kill me if I leave it there...and I'm just getting in, and I get caught by Matsui..."

Gabriella laughed in all the right places and sympathized with Troy about the teacher who gave him detention. By the end of his tale, Gabriella was smiling and cheerful again. Troy was thankful that she was back to her normal self.

He glanced at the clock beside Gabriella's bed. "Shoot, I have to go! But why don't I give you a ride to school tomorrow? Remember, I still have to make lunch up to you...even more so now."

Gabriella smiled. "Only if you want to."

"Of course I do! Why would I have suggested it if I didn't?"

"Out of politeness." Gabriella grinned suddenly. "Or maybe because Mrs. Darbus turned you down and I'm your second choice."

"What?" Troy spluttered. Then he remembered their conversation earlier that day. "Oh, no, not anymore. Not after the purple paint incident..." he said, just to hear her laugh.

**--**

The next day, when Troy and Gabriella walked in as close as ever, their friends were relieved. All of them had been up for most of the night worrying about the misunderstanding, and they were happy knowing that it had all worked out.

But when Sharpay approached Ryan about his plan, he said that it would have to wait until the next day.

"It has to start when they first go to their lockers," he said. "It can't be any later than that. And I need a meeting with you guys at lunch."

This was easy to plan, since Troy and Gabriella were spending some alone time on the rooftop garden that day at lunch.

"All right, Ryan," Taylor began in a businesslike manner. "This meeting's obviously about your plan, but we don't actually know what it is yet, so..."

As Ryan filled them in, their eyes lit up.

"Brilliant," said Zeke softly.

"Amazing," breathed Jason.

"Can you tutor me?" asked Chad.

Everyone turned to look at him, rolled their eyes and brought their attention back to Ryan.

"But the thing is, they're bound to know each other's writing styles," Ryan explained. "So who has the writing most like Gabriella and Troy?"

Taylor volunteered for Gabriella's writing, and Zeke for Troy's.

"Good," said Ryan, and brought two squares of coloured paper out of his pocket. "I need you to write this..."

**--**

Gabriella got to school early that day – she wanted to do some research for her next essay in the library. When she got to her locker, she saw a piece of paper stuck inside it. She pulled it out and unfolded it. The writing looked like Troy's, but had a slightly unfamiliar quality to it.

_Gabriella,_

_ Will you meet me at the rooftop garden at lunch? I have something really important to tell you._

_ -- Troy_

She smiled at the thought of Troy. _I wonder what he wants to tell me..._ She knew what she _wanted_ it to be about, but she also knew that it was next to impossible for Troy to love her back.

_Well, we'll see at lunch, Wildcat..._

**--**

Troy arrived at school at the normal time, missing Gabriella already. He knew that she had to work on her essay...but sometimes, he wished that there wasn't so much work in school. _I would definitely get to spend more time with her...what's this?_

He pulled out and unfolded a piece of paper that was stuck in his locker.

_Troy,_

_ I need to talk to you about something important...can we meet at the rooftop garden during lunch? I talked to Chad, and he said that you don't have basketball practice._

_ -- Gabriella_

Troy's expression softened and a goofy smile appeared on his face. Maybe she wanted to tell him that she was in love with him. Maybe he'd get to –

"Hey, dude, what's that?"

Troy rolled his eyes before turning around. _Jason's getting timing lessons from Chad._ "Just a note," he said. "From Gabriella."

Jason grinned. "I should've known from your expression that it was from Gabriella. You should've seen your face! It had 'whipped' written all over it!"

Troy turned red. "Shut up, Jason," he muttered. "You should see your expression when you see Kelsi."

"Well, at least I'm going out with her," Jason said, shrugging. "See you in class." He turned around and walked back the way he had come.

_That's funny,_ Troy thought after he left. _I thought they said that they'd leave me alone about that...the same thing happened at practice yesterday. _He got his remaining books out of his locker and closed it firmly.

_Note to self: never trust Chad when he says he's going to stop bugging you about something..._

**--**

During class, there wasn't that much time for Troy and Gabriella to talk to each other. Mrs. Darbus was having a bad morning: the telltale sign was that her speech was on idiotic mistakes made by performers on opening night. Gabriella tried to catch Troy's eye and nod, signaling that she would meet him at lunch, but she wasn't sure if he saw her. The same thing happened with Troy.

The next period, they had different classes, so at lunch, they just went straight to the rooftop garden. Troy arrived first and paced for a few minutes until Gabriella came. She was carrying the note in her hand. Troy had his in his pocket.

"Troy, are you okay?" Gabriella began. "I read somewhere that sometimes, when someone has a lot on their mind, their writing changes slightly...and the note you gave me was written in a different style than you usually write in. What's wrong?" **(A/N: I'm completely making it up about what she read, but I see how it could be true.)**

Troy looked at her blankly. "I didn't send you a note."

Gabriella frowned. "What was this doing in my locker, then?" she asked him, giving him the note.

After he finished it, his frown was deeper. "Gabriella, I didn't send you that, but the writing looks really familiar."

Gabriella turned it this way and that, trying to figure it out, but she didn't get any leads.

"Anyways, you sent me a note, right? Saying that there was something that you wanted to tell me?"

Now, the frown was on Gabriella's face. "No...I didn't send you one, Troy. I came up here because I thought that _you_ sent that note."

"And _I_ came up here because I thought that _you_ sent _this_ note!" Troy said, bewildered, as he gave his note to Gabriella.

"I didn't send this," Gabriella told him as she finished reading it. "I know this might sound crazy, but...that looks like Taylor's writing."

Troy's eyes lit up. "Hold on...let me see the note again?" When he finished reading it, he met her eyes. "That's _definitely_ Zeke's writing. No doubt about it."

They slowly put their notes down and looked at each other.

"So, if Taylor sent this note..." Gabriella began, and looked at it again. "Yep, now I'm _sure_ that that's her writing. That's really weird."

"...and Zeke sent this one..." Troy muttered. He looked at her and smiled. "Well, our friends obviously wanted us to have some alone time after what happened. The guys were really concerned about me and you patching things up the other day."

"Yeah, that must be it," Gabriella said, the frown disappearing. Then she hit herself on the head. "I can't believe I fell for that! I _know_ your writing!"

"I know!" Troy grinned. "And I know yours! I definitely should've recognized Taylor's writing."

"They were obviously smart enough not to use Sharpay's writing, though," Gabriella giggled. "Remember when we were first looking at the sign-up sheet for Twinkle Towne and she signed her name?"

Troy laughed. "Yeah, I remember that. _Nice penmanship,_" he mocked, turning to grin at Gabriella.

"Hey, I didn't hear _you_ say anything!" Gabriella glared at him. "And it was my first day! I didn't know the way things were yet!"

"You soon figured it out," Troy said smiling. "And then we overcame it. And look at Sharpay now. She's come a long way."

"Yeah," Gabriella said, her smile fading. "Troy...umm...you don't _like_ Sharpay, do you?"

It took a minute for Troy to figure out what Gabriella was asking. When he did, he laughed.

"Oh, _no_, Gabriella. No _way._ Do you have _any_ idea what Zeke would do to me if I did? They're going out, you know." He smiled at her. "Besides, I would've told you."

Seeing Troy laughing in front of her, Gabriella realized how stupid she sounded. "You're right," she muttered, looking down. "It was stupid for me to have thought that you did."

"No it wasn't," Troy argued. "She _is_ one of my friends, after all. And people _do_ fall in love with their friends sometimes," he said, turning to look directly at her.

Gabriella's breath caught in her throat. This was it. Troy was leaning in, and she found herself unconsciously doing so as well. Their faces were inches apart when a shrill ring met their ears.

"Evil bell," she could have sworn she heard Troy mutter, pulling away. But it was probably just her imagination.

**A/N: Once again, thank you for reading! I'm getting a lot more reviews, which is AWESOME! This one goes out to laalaa1123, ZaNeSsAObEsSeD102, "line" and "Sara." There were a lot more Troyella moments in this chapter...I enjoyed writing it! You know what to do!**


	7. Plan 7 and The Truth

Disclaimer: I wish that I could say that I own High School Musical

**Disclaimer: I wish that I could say that I own High School Musical...but sadly, I don't. Otherwise, I'd be in a very happy place :)**

**--**

Gabriella was taking notes. She loved doing this – it was like second nature to her. She could always write down information in a clear, organized manner, so her notes were easy to use when she studied for exams. Her teacher was currently waiting for everyone else to finish writing, so Gabriella picked up her pen again and started to scratch at the sheet of paper.

"Psst!" A whisper interrupted her doodling, and Gabriella looked up. Taylor, sitting in the desk beside her, smirked and pointed at her notebook.

Gabriella looked down and saw what she had written:

_I love Troy, Troy Bolton loves Gabriella Montez _(and vice versa)_, Troy_ (drawn in a heart)_, Gabriella Bolton_ and a half-finished picture of Troy which, Gabriella thought, did not come close to the real person.

With a start, Gabriella realized that her notebook was in plain view of not only every student surrounding her, but the teacher as well. She turned red and hastily brought the notebook close to her. She kept it like that until the teacher started writing again.

She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and slipped it out. This teacher, unlike Mrs. Darbus, did not have an obsession with confiscating cell phones, so all Gabriella had to do was keep it in her lap and hidden behind her desk, out of the teacher's view.

_You are SO lucky that I saved your neck back there!!_

She grimaced and began on a reply to Taylor. She had a funny feeling that she was never going to hear the end of this.

_I just spaced out. It could happen to anyone. _

A very short time later, her phone buzzed again.

_Any particular reason for spacing out?_

She thought about telling Taylor that she and Troy had almost kissed...but decided against it. Her friends had lately been dropping hints again about her and Troy getting together, even when Sharpay had promised that they wouldn't. Gabriella's decision was made partially on the base of her annoyance at her friends, and partially because she wanted to keep that moment to herself for a little while longer.

_No...It was just me and Troy being us. It was fun hanging out with him up there, but it didn't really go anywhere...at least, not in the way you mean._

As Taylor read this, her eyes grew wide and she hastily messaged Sharpay, Ryan, Jason, Kelsi, Chad and Zeke.

_Ryan's plan failed!! Emergency meeting after school?_

After the message was read and six affirmative replies were sent, Taylor wasn't the only one who was no longer focused on the lesson.

**--**

"Okay, guys," Sharpay said seriously. "I've had enough. We've tried _everything_...and nothing, I repeat, _nothing_ has worked! Jason, you're the only one out of all of us who hasn't come up with a plan. If yours doesn't work...well, I guess we're just going to have to give up."

For once, there was complete silence in the library. Sharpay had held it out until the end, and she had been the main leader of "the Planning Committee," as they had taken to calling themselves. If _she_ was giving up, everyone knew that it was almost over. It was almost time to just close their eyes and hope for the best.

"Do you have a plan, Jason?" asked Kelsi, after a long silence.

Jason took a deep breath. "Yeah, I think I do. It's not much, but...if it works, it's served its purpose. You're all strong, right?"

They all nodded, slightly confused.

"You can block a door if you need to?"

"I've done it plenty of times," Sharpay declared. "It's easily done. But why –"

"You'll see in a minute," said Jason. "What we're going to do is this..."

**--**

"Troy!"

"Gabriella!"

The two people not involved in the planning were searching the school, looking for each other. Although they were on different sides of the school, both of them were approaching the same classroom.

"Hey, Gabriella," said Kelsi, jogging to keep up with Gabriella, who was running. "Looking for Troy?"

"Yeah," Sharpay cut in, slightly out of breath. "Are you? Cause we might have seen him..."

"He's around here somewhere..." said Taylor. "Right..."

"HERE!" they all yelled, as they pushed Gabriella into an open door.

Gabriella stumbled through the door just as Troy was pushed in through the door on the other side of the classroom. They both whirled around at the same time, just as both doors shut. They ran for the doors and tried to open them, but they wouldn't budge.

"They've locked us in here!" Gabriella cried.

Troy groaned and slumped to the floor. "My friends are going to be the death of me one day."

"Taylor's never pushed me before," Gabriella said softly. "And Kelsi...and I thought that Sharpay was getting better! What did I do? Did I –"

"You didn't do anything wrong," Troy said firmly. "Remember? It's not possible for you to do anything wrong." He smiled at her, and she tentatively smiled back.

"It's not like them to use violence, though," Gabriella mused. "I mean," she said quickly, glancing at Troy, "I'm not the kind of person who freaks out when I get pushed, or anything...it's just –"

"I know what you mean," Troy said reassuringly. "The guys on the team don't generally use violence, either." He looked somewhere to his left, near Gabriella, and grinned suddenly. Wordlessly, he pointed to a point behind her.

Gabriella turned, looking over her right shoulder, and saw a staircase somewhat hidden behind a black curtain. She walked over and pulled the curtain back, revealing that the staircase lead upwards and disappeared into the ceiling. She grinned, too, and a mischievous look came into her eyes.

Troy rose silently from the floor and outstretched his hand. Gabriella took it, and they both climbed up the staircase, trying to make as little noise as possible. Soon, they were out of the room.

**--**

The rest of the gang waited five minutes before Chad rapped on the door impatiently. "Come on, guys, enough already! You'll have a chance to finish later!"

Hearing Chad's voice from the other side of the room, the girls began to knock on the door, too. But no one answered them.

"Are they ignoring us?" Ryan asked. Zeke, putting a finger to his lips, gently opened the door and saw...no one.

All four of the boys ran into the room and searched it, but they didn't find anyone.

"Taylor! Sharpay! Kelsi!" they called, and the girls rushed into the room. Seeing no one there besides their fellow planners, they stood in the middle of the room in shock.

"Where'd they go?" Sharpay screeched, and proceeded to run around the room, looking under desks and chairs and behind large projects.

"It's no use," Zeke said. "We already looked everywhere."

"Not everywhere." Kelsi waited until she caught everyone's attention, and then pulled back the black curtain that Troy and Gabriella had closed, disclosing the staircase.

Chad groaned. "Jason, out of _all_ the classrooms that you could've picked, _why_ did you have to pick _this_ one?"

"I didn't know about it! Honestly!" Jason cried, looking around at his friends. "I've been in this classroom before...that staircase was always behind the curtain. I don't think _anyone_ knows about it!"

"Well, it explains where Troy and Gabriella got to," Taylor said matter-of-factly. She paused. "Does anyone else feel like following them?"

Noiselessly, the rest of the gang climbed up the staircase – which was several flights long – until they got to a familiar place.

"The rooftop garden!" Sharpay hissed. They could hear voices a floor above them.

"Come on," Kelsi urged. "Let's leave them alone for now."

"Wait," Chad said. "One minute." He crawled up the staircase and peeked at Troy and Gabriella's special place. He saw Troy on one end of the bench, and Gabriella on the other. They were talking, but they weren't close enough for Chad's liking.

When he got back down to the others, he shook his head mournfully. "We failed...again."

It was a sorry looking procession that trudged into the cafeteria when the lunch bell rang.

**--**

Troy was saying something to Gabriella when he stopped and tilted his head to one side. "Listen," he said. "Did you hear anything?"

Gabriella strained her ears, but she couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary.

"No," she said, smiling at him. "Sorry. What do you think you heard?"

"Chad's footsteps." Gabriella looked at him weirdly.

"You know Chad. He has many talents...grace is not one of them. I've come to know how he walks over the years that I've known him."

Gabriella giggled. "Well," she said, "I wouldn't be surprised. Our friends seem to be everywhere these days." She sighed. "Does it feel like they're –"

"– pressuring us into something?" Troy grinned. "Yes, as a matter of fact, it does."

"You know, the girls were pressuring me about..." she glanced up at Troy quickly, "something...and then Sharpay said that they'd stop a while ago. But they've started it up again." Then she frowned, as she remembered her conversation with Taylor after the recording incident. "Actually...I think that Taylor said that the boys were in on it, too."

"I wouldn't be surprised," Troy said grimly. "The same thing happened to me. Actually..." he paused. "Judging by what they told me...I wouldn't be surprised if the girls were in on it as well."

They looked at each other, and something clicked.

"You don't think it's –"

"—the same plan!" Gabriella gasped. "The same issue they're pressuring us on!" She suddenly remembered everything that Taylor had told her and felt stupid for not believing her. "Taylor _told_ me that she was trying to get us –"

But she stopped there, the unfinished sentence still in her mouth. She _couldn't_ tell Troy about that...he'd find out how she felt about him if she did.

"Get us what?" Troy moved closer to her and took her hand. "Get us what, Gabriella?" he asked softly.

There was nothing that Gabriella could do. She couldn't think of anything to say but the truth.

"Get us...together."

Troy let go of her hand in shock and slid back on the bench. _Did she just say what I think she said?_ His mind was in turmoil, so he didn't stop to think what his actions might to Gabriella.

She looked down after Troy released her hand. "They've been trying to get me to tell you how I feel," she said quietly. "But they didn't realize...this is exactly how I knew you would take it, Troy. They didn't stop to think what would happen if you didn't feel the same way." Now she was fighting back tears. "I have to go."

And before Troy could say a word, she raced down the stairs.

**A/N: Haha, I felt like ending it there...but I will have the next chapter up soon! Don't worry! I found it hard to concentrate on this story writing this chapter...but I had a good reason! Check this out:**

**/profilevideos?userAshleyTisdale83&pr**

**It has all these videos about HSM 3...and they are AMAZING!!**

**This one goes to zanessaandashlover and snoopyloverwhohasahighvoice: my 2 latest reviewers!! But, once again, thank you to everybody who has reviewed so far...you should find your name in here somewhere!**

**I am finishing up this story...there should only be one more chapter or two. But in the meantime...there is a purple button down there...**


	8. ThisIsOnlyGonnaHappenIfWeAllWorkTogether

Okay, sorry if my last A/N didn't make sense there

**Okay, sorry if my last A/N didn't make sense there...**

**The HSM 3 YouTube URL didn't copy right for some reason...so if you want to see it, search "High School Musical 3" on YouTube and click on the user that posted the first video (it should be AshleyTisdale83). **

**Anyway, back to the story...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical...but if I did...(spaces out for ten minutes)...OH YEAH! I'm writing a story. Anyways...**

**--**

Gabriella was driving home, nearly blinded by tears.

She had told Troy about the plan, and he had taken it...well, exactly how she had known he would. _I know him better than anyone else does,_ she thought fiercely. _He's said so himself. So _why_ did our friends think that this would work?_

After her dash down the stairs, she had run straight into Kelsi. The good thing about Kelsi was that she asked no questions: she had just given Gabriella her car keys and whispered "I'll cover for you."

In any other situation, Gabriella would have reflected on how supportive of a friend Kelsi was, but she knew that she had been in on the planning as well.

As she reflected on what she had come already to refer to as "The Last Conversation," Gabriella realized how stupid she had been.

_I didn't have to say anything after telling him the plan,_ she thought angrily. _I could've just laughed along with it. But no, I _had_ to go and say that I feel something other than friendship for him. I _had_ to listen to peer pressure...something I never thought I'd do._ She sighed. _Then again, I never thought that I'd fall in love with my best friend, either._

A horn beeped loudly, jerking her out of her thoughts. She swerved to avoid the oncoming car and forced herself to clear her head. _Just get home safely,_ she thought. _Then you can think all you want...just get home safely...don't crash Kelsi's car..._

She repeated these phrases in her head until she got home. She couldn't even make it to her room: she just sat down on the bottom stair and cried herself to sleep.

**--**

Troy raced down the stairs that led to the rooftop garden and burst through the doors to the cafeteria. Everyone stared at him, but he didn't care..._they_ didn't know that anything was wrong. For all they knew, he could've just been taking a jog during free period. There was only one person who would've known something was wrong...and she had just run away from him.

Without warning, a hand shot out of nowhere and pulled at his sleeve. Down he went, on to a chair between Chad and Jason.

Chad let go of him. "Dude, what happened? You look like you're about to have a heart attack."

Troy was all for getting up and running away again – he was a little mad at his friends right now – but he was distracted by someone else bursting through the cafeteria doors.

Kelsi ran up to their table, out of breath. She didn't even give her customary kiss to Jason or sit down before her words came out. "Gabriella—car—left—upset—Troy—guys—failed—Jason—"

"Hold on," Taylor commanded. "Sit down and tell us what happened."

"No!" Kelsi practically shouted. "Okay..." She took a deep breath. "Gabriella crashed into me a few minutes ago. She looked really upset, so I gave her my car and she's left the school." She glared at everyone. "I _wonder_ what this is about! She was crying, and everything! She might have a car accident because she's in no condition to drive! I don't know what happened up there, Troy, but –"

Troy raised a hand, and she stopped. "Before we get into what happened up there, you guys have to tell me what's been going on. And don't bother deny it, because I think I know already. I just want to hear the full story from you."

Everyone turned to Sharpay.

"What?" she screeched. "It wasn't _my_ idea!" Kelsi looked at her pointedly. "Okay, maybe it was...but I wasn't the only one who carried it out!"

"We're all responsible," Zeke said, trying to calm her down. "Why don't we all just say what each of us did?"

So bit by bit, it all came out. Troy listened without interrupting, his face expressionless. Sharpay finished off.

"...and we're so, _so_ sorry about it because we _know_ that we messed up...and we probably should've listened to Kelsi all along...so will you please forgive us?" She finished in an intimidated squeak.

"I need to clear my head to answer that...and there's a _huge_ issue in it right now," Troy said harshly. "Gabriella...told me...that you guys were trying to get us together and she said something else, but I didn't hear it because I was in so much shock. I think it was important, though...because she was really upset when she finished and then she ran away." Troy's frown got more pronounced with every word he spoke. "I don't know _why_...but she did, and I need to find her to find out what's wrong."

The members of the gang simultaneously rolled their eyes. In their explanation of the plans, they hadn't mentioned Gabriella's feelings about Troy. It looked like she had confessed, read Troy's body language the wrong way and stormed out. But Ryan caught everyone's gaze and imperceptibly shook his head. They had already done enough damage.

"Well," Chad said after a long pause. "I suggest that you go find her...and try _not_ to get dragged back in here like last time. I'll cover for you."

Troy gave a small nod and rose quickly out of his chair. Not five seconds had passed before he was out of the cafeteria.

**--**

When Troy pulled into Gabriella's driveway, he was relieved to see Kelsi's car already there. _So she made it home safe,_ he thought, and some of his worry lessened. _She's probably in her room...especially if she's upset._

He stealthily opened the gate to her backyard and quickly clambered up to the balcony. But when he looked through the glass, he didn't see anyone in the room.

Troy was already experiencing an overload of emotions, so when he didn't see anyone in her room, he panicked. _Why isn't she in here?_ He took a long look through the glass, looking at every inch of her room that he could see, but he still saw no one. _She doesn't go anywhere else when she's upset...unless..._

_Oh, God. Did she run away?_

In his panicked state, it didn't take long for him to convince himself that that was the only other option. After descending to the ground, he hurriedly pulled out his phone and sent a message to all his friends.

_Still sick...and I can't find my medicine. You know: the kind that always helps me when I get unwell. I seem to have lost it...or maybe it ran away. :P Come as soon as you can to help me look for it._

He knew that his friends would understand the seemingly cheerful message (it took him a lot of effort to add the face), and hoped that they would come soon. Realizing something, he sent one more message:

_When things go especially wrong, you'll find me here._

With that, he sat down with his back against Gabriella's fence and waited for his friends to arrive.

**A/N: I decided to make this story a **_**little**_** longer. Keep on reviewing!! And now, time for the dedication: this one goes to "nikki" and darlingxoxonikki (lol, two Nikkis...interesting.) **

**I was planning on adding another, smaller twist to this story...(thinking about it, at least), but I decided against it. One of my reviewers guessed what I might have been up to...great minds think alike! xD Anyways, next chapter will be up soon. **

**starbook **


	9. Enfin

Disclaimer: D'you think I'd be here writing this if I owned High School Musical

**Disclaimer: D'you think I'd be here writing this if I owned High School Musical? Well, maybe I would...but anyways...the point is that I don't own it.**

**--**

It seemed like forever to Troy before cars began pulling into Gabriella's driveway. Brakes screeched, doors slammed and seven people began running in his direction.

"Oh my God!" Sharpay screamed as she neared Troy. "I can't believe she ran away!"

"Shh!" a voice hissed from somewhere above them. They looked up to see a man in his fifties or sixties looking over the fence, glaring at them. "You're disturbing the peace in this neighbourhood! You think someone ran away? They probably didn't. You young teenagers don't do these things. The problems only start when you're older, so quit complaining! You are a privileged generation and you don't know the meaning of hardship!" With that, he disappeared over the fence.

Everyone stared at where his head had been in complete disbelief, except for Troy. He was rocking back and forth in a ball with his hands over his eyes. After a while, his friends began to notice and they rushed over.

"Troy, it's okay...we'll find her," Taylor said in what she meant to be a reassuring manner. Even to her own ears, though, she sounded helpless and afraid. "We _have_ to find her!" she continued, getting slightly louder. "If we don't, I'll never forgive myself!" She began to cry hysterically. "We should have never gone on with the stupid plans!"

"Taylor!" said Kelsi sharply. "Not helping." She turned to Troy. "Do you have any idea where she might be?"

Troy shook his head miserably and took his hands off of his eyes. Shock ran throughout the whole group as they realized that they were full of tears. Troy rarely _ever_ cried. "She could be anywhere," he whispered. "Anywhere...hiding...alone –" His voice broke.

Kelsi took the lead, much to everyone's surprise. She seemed the most able to keep her head in a crisis. "Someone should stay here in case she comes back," she said. "Does anyone –"

"I volunteer for that," Sharpay said firmly. "I have a score to – I mean, I just don't feel like running around," she finished, flushing.

"Okay," Kelsi said calmly. "The rest of us should just split up, I guess."

"I'll go to the park," Zeke said.

"I'll check some of the stores I know she's been to," Taylor volunteered.

When everyone had settled where they would go, Sharpay took a seat by Gabriella's front door. Everyone else started running in different directions. They were out of her sight in about three seconds.

**--**

"...so don't you _ever_ say that again, because _everyone_ has hardships in their lives, and it doesn't matter what age they have them or what generation they were born in!" Sharpay yelled. The man she was shouting at seemed quite taken aback at the fact that she had bothered to come back and challenge him. "Why would we make it up about our friend running away? She lives right in that house! Surely you know her! There was a misunderstanding at school and we have to clear it up..." she was shaking by this point, "so forgive us if we're _disrupting the neighbourhood._"

"I know her," the man said quietly. He seemed very sorry about his actions earlier.

"She came to my house to deliver homemade cookies when I first moved in here. She seems like a very nice girl, and I hope you find her."

"You'd better!" Sharpay said furiously, and stalked back to Gabriella's house. As she sat down in front of Gabriella's door again, she realized that her yelling match might have been a mistake. _She could've come in at any time and I wouldn't have seen her,_ Sharpay thought disgustedly. _I'm catching idiocy from Chad._

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Troy's number. He picked up immediately. "Hello?"

"Troy, where does Gabriella keep her spare key?"

"Under the potted plant closest to the door on your left if you're facing the door...why?"

But she had already hung up and was lifting the plant. When she carefully inserted the key in the hole and opened the door, she was overcome with shock.

"Gabriella!"

Gabriella slowly opened her eyes and found herself face to face with Sharpay.

"You're alive! Wait till I tell everyone! Troy was going crazy with worry! _I_ was going crazy with worry! Where were you? Did you just come in? Are you all right?"

"Sharpay," Gabriella interrupted, frowning. "What do you mean? I've been here since I left school..." She looked down. "And why would Troy go crazy with worry?" she asked quietly. "He doesn't feel the same way that I do." Tears began to fall from her eyes again. "I've been s-sleeping and trying to...to forget what h-happened," she sobbed. "But Troy's expression won't...won't..." She buried her head in her arms, but Sharpay could still hear her muffled words: "...won't go away."

Sharpay looked at her friend with concern. "Hold on. I need to call the others." She pulled out her phone, but Gabriella stopped her.

"N-no! Please!" she sobbed. "Troy won't want to come here right now."

"Gabriella, he's already been here. _How_ he missed you I have no idea, but...he's been here almost as long as you have." Sharpay gently twisted out of Gabriella's grasp and dialed on her phone. "Hi, Troy...Yes...Wait –" She frowned at the phone and closed it. "He hung up," she muttered.

"I told you," Gabriella sobbed. "He doesn't care. And why would he? He'll never look at me the same way again."

"He doesn't know."

"Yes, he does! I told him!"

"_Yes,_" Sharpay said, exasperated, "but he didn't hear you! He was too shocked about the planning thing, and he wasn't listening anymore!" She cocked her head to one side, hearing rapid footsteps. "Sounds like he's here now."

And then Troy entered the room, and Gabriella forgot her worries. He looked so incredibly relieved as he rushed over and scooped her up in his arms. "Gabriella," he whispered, and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "Oh God...you're here...I thought I'd lost you...you're _really here..._"

All she could do was hold on to him as he carried her up the stairs to her room. He set her down on the bed and simply stared at her until she looked away.

"Gabriella," he breathed. He brought his hand underneath her chin and turned her head so that she was looking at him. It was then that she started to come back to reality, and Sharpay's words sunk in. _'He didn't hear you...'_ She looked into his eyes and saw nothing but relief, concern and...something else. _Don't be ridiculous,_ she scolded herself. _You _know_ what his reaction will be if you tell him. He doesn't love you. _

As Troy saw the growing sadness in Gabriella's eyes, he decided to save his questions for later. "You look tired," he whispered. "Why don't you go to sleep for a while?"

"Will you stay?" Gabriella's voice betrayed her fear and sadness.

"Of course," said Troy. "I won't leave you, I promise." She lay down on the bed and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. _I'm never letting you go...I can't lose you again._

Despite recently being asleep, Gabriella was surprisingly tired. She fell asleep in less than five minutes, with Troy soon following.

**--**

When Gabriella first woke up, she couldn't figure out where she was. Then, she became aware of strong arms around her and it all came rushing back. She turned around, ever so carefully, trying not to rouse Troy from sleep. He sensed the movement, though, and instinctively pulled her closer. She smiled, looking at his face. _He looks so peaceful..._

She didn't risk moving again, because she didn't want to wake Troy up, but she became extremely uncomfortable after five minutes. As she shifted, Troy stirred and opened his eyes.

"Hey," he whispered, his eyes warm and caring. He reached out to brush a lock of hair back from her face. "How'd you sleep?"

She looked down to hide her smile. "I slept okay...how about you?"

"The best in a long time," he said, and she blushed. She felt him sit up and shivered slightly as he gently pulled his arms off her. Feeling his eyes on her, she looked up.

"We need to talk," he stated.

She nodded. "I know..." she sighed. A rueful smile appeared on her face. "Where to start?"

"Why'd you run away yesterday?" he asked softly. **(A/N: Yes, they did sleep through the whole night.)** "I came here...and I knew you were upset, so I checked you room...but you weren't there."

She frowned. "The only running away I did was down the garden steps. I didn't leave my house after I got here."

Troy blinked. "You mean...you were in the house the whole time?"

She nodded.

"Wow," Troy said, smiling sheepishly. "I feel stupid."

"Don't," Gabriella said gently, stroking his face in a bold move. Troy closed his eyes and relaxed at her touch. "I _did_ run away, after all. And it turned out to be over nothing."

Troy brought his hand to hers and stroked it tenderly. "I got really scared yesterday," he admitted. The possibility of losing you..." He winced. "I kept thinking about how important you are to me. And how much I wouldn't get to tell you." His eyes met hers, and she picked up on his intense gaze.

"Get to tell me?"

"Well, I was thinking...what if I _had_ lost you? I would have always been asking 'what if?'." He looked down, as if to gather strength. His voice was quieter now, but she could still hear every word. "What if I'd told you something that I've wanted to tell you for ages...before you disappeared? Would our lives be different?" He looked up at her again. "I think they would."

Gabriella didn't breathe. She could barely believe what she was hearing.

Troy took a deep breath. "Gabriella...I should have said this a long time ago, but I guess this is a 'better late than never' situation. Remember what I told you the last time you cried? It's all true. You're perfect," he said, quoting what he had said earlier. "You're caring – you always put other people before yourself. Every time you walk into a room, you make everyone feel better just by being there...especially me," he said, getting quieter. "You're always willing to help others," he said, putting his hands on either side of her face, "you're brilliant," he leaned in, "you're beautiful," his forehead touched hers...

"...and I love you," he whispered, before meeting her lips with his own in a soft kiss.

It was all that Gabriella had dreamed, and more. Troy was so gentle as he wrapped his arms around her once again, pulling her close to him. His mouth moved against hers carefully, lovingly. She kissed him back, linking her arms around his neck and snuggling closer to him. When the need for air became an issue, they both pulled away, but their hands remained where they were as they stared into each other's eyes.

"I love you too," Gabriella whispered.

Troy's eyes softened. "I never thought I'd hear you say that."

"Same here," Gabriella replied, and smiled. "I told you that I felt something more than friendship up at the rooftop garden...but I thought that your reaction was to that and not to the planning. That's why I ran away," she explained. "I didn't know that you hadn't heard me. The girls kept trying to tell me that you felt the same way, but I didn't believe them...so I thought that you were mad," she finished.

"I'm sorry," Troy said to her, smiling as well. "I was so surprised about the whole planning thing...I didn't realize what my actions could be read as." Then he frowned. "Was I really that obvious?"

"Not to me," Gabriella said, laughing softly as she took his hand in hers. "I didn't think it was possible."

"Believe me, it is," he said, and grinned. He pulled her into another kiss. "Do you think we should tell our friends?"

"About what?" Gabriella teased.

"Well, about you becoming my girlfriend." He paused. "That is...ummm...if you _want_ to be my girlfriend."

Gabriella smiled shyly. "I'd love to, Troy."

He smiled at her and got up to stretch. "Well, that's settled then," he said, glancing down off the bed. His face turned white and he jumped, falling off.

"Troy?" Gabriella asked as she ran over to him. "What –"

But she saw all too clearly what. There was a foot sticking out from under the bed...a foot she recognized as Chad's by the distinctive basketball socks. She smirked at Troy and gave the foot a sharp tug. There was a bang, followed by an "Ow!" of surprise, and out came Chad from under the bed.

"Okay, okay, you caught me! I admit it! I have been under this bed for a while! Please don't tell Taylor!" he squeaked. The door to Gabriella's bedroom swung open.

"No need for that: she already knows," said Taylor, walking into the room. "Honestly, Chad, what's with you and timing? You are coming downstairs for a chat with me...and I'm sure Sharpay would also be very interested in hearing why you decided to be under the bed."

Chad looked very scared as Taylor marched him out the door, glancing back at Troy and Gabriella with an apologetic glance.

When the door closed, Troy looked at Gabriella sheepishly.

"Sorry about that..." Troy muttered.

Gabriella smiled at her boyfriend's cuteness before moving closer to him.

"Now, was it really your fault that Chad decided to hide under my bed?" she asked him. "Besides, I find it somehow symbolic...considering when you tried to kiss me after the callbacks, he was the one who interrupted us."

"You noticed?" asked Troy, turning red.

"I did, and I was very happy," Gabriella reassured him. "As time passed, I deluded myself into thinking that you didn't feel the same way that I did...but I was happy to just be with you, as you would know," she said.

Troy looked at her, his eyes full of the emotion she knew had always been there: _love_. He smiled.

"I know. I felt exactly the same way that you did." He smiled and put his arm around her.

"Now, where were we...?"

**A/N: Awww, I loved this chapter! They finally got together! THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER, THOUGH...there is going to be at least one more, because I have a few loose ends that I want to tie up. In the meantime...hint, hint. Reviews make me smile!**


	10. Epilogue

A/N: I am so sorry

**A/N: I am so sorry!! I know I haven't updated in a while (aka 4 days) but my mom needed the computer and I've only just gone on now!! Don't kill me...**

**Disclaimer: ARGH, must I keep reminding myself that I don't own High School Musical? It's depressing (sob) anyways...**

**--**

Ten minutes before the warning bell, Troy's car pulled up in front of the school.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" he asked the person beside him concernedly. "I mean, we can wait before we tell everyone..."

"We wouldn't be waiting for long." Gabriella grinned. "What do you think is the probability of Chad keeping a secret?"

Troy groaned and leaned back into the seat. "I'm going to _kill_ him for that. Of _all_ the times to hide under the bed –"

Gabriella reached up and stroked his face. "Troy, I know you think that Chad is your responsibility and that it's your fault he was in there...but it's not. And it didn't ruin the moment or anything...it was still the best moment of my life. So don't worry about it," she said softly, kissing him.

Troy's expression softened. "I love you," he murmured after they broke away.

"I love you too, Wildcat," Gabriella told him. "Now, let's go in."

Troy smiled and opened his door, rushing over to open Gabriella's for her and help her out. She took his offered arm.

"Thanks," she said softly.

"Anything for you." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. Then he took her hand and led her through the doors of East High.

Gasps and mutters reached their ears, but they didn't care. Leslie, the head cheerleader, strode up to them, her eyes flashing.

"Troy, what is the meaning of this?" she demanded. She had hoped that Troy would ask her out.

"Well, Leslie, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Gabriella," Troy said calmly.

An outbreak of chatter burst out at this statement, and Leslie turned and flounced away. Then more people started to come up to the new couple, but most offered their congratulations.

"Finally, man! We were _wondering_ when you were going to do it!"

"Gabriella! I'm so excited for you! You've liked him for _ages_!"

"Loved," Gabriella amended quietly.

Complete silence filled the halls as Troy looked at Gabriella, beaming. He leaned down and captured her in a soft kiss. Eventually, they pulled away and stared into each other's eyes.

"All right, guys, break it up! Enough with the PDA, already! We need to go to class!"

Chad's voice carried through the parting crowd as he and the rest of the gang reached them. As soon as they stopped, Jason smirked and held out his hand.

Chad turned. "What?"

"Pay up," Jason ordered, still smirking. "Remember out bet? I just won it."

It took Chad a full ten seconds to figure out what Jason was talking about.

"Argh! Fine! Here's your ten bucks! It's only ten, anyway!" Chad reluctantly handed the money over. "Now you can buy that new car you've always wanted!" he said sarcastically.

"Actually..." Jason thought for a minute. "I've been saving up and come to think of it, I only needed ten dollars more. Thanks, Chad!"

Chad made sure to hit his head on the wall a few times before walking into Mrs. Darbus's classroom.

**--**

"...and we _really_ think, as co-presidents of the Drama Club, that doing this would be best for the theatre."

"Hmmm..." Mrs. Darbus paused, looking at Sharpay and Ryan. "Well...if that is what you think...I might actually agree with you."

This time, Ryan didn't have to ask if Mrs. Darbus had approved. He sprinted through the halls, eventually finding Chad by the gym.

"Hey, Chad!" he called. "Mrs. Darbus wants you in the theatre!"

Chad frowned. "What for?"

"I don't know...she didn't say! But she said we have to be quick!"

Ryan and Chad ran back to the theatre, where a crowd was beginning to form. There was a poster on the theatre doors.

"Oh _no_..." Chad whispered, horrified.

The poster was designed as if advertising for a musical, with "CHAD" written in big letters on the top. The background picture was of Chad, when he was very little in a red raincoat and matching boots. He was sitting in a puddle and looking very angry, as if he had just fallen in. He couldn't have been more than three years old. But what got everyone's attention was his hair. There was no afro. In fact, most of it was simply _not there. _The only hair remaining was sticking straight up from Chad's head, like a spike.

Ryan turned, smiling, to a thoroughly humiliated Chad. "Care to explain?"

"My mom took it...right before she got Michael Crawford's picture. I had decided to...er...give myself a haircut. She thought it was priceless..." Chad's voice trailed away. Seeing everyone beginning to turn and look at him, he ran at full speed down the hallway.

"SHARPAY, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"

"Mr. Danforth! As I have said before, this is a place of learning: _not_ a hockey arena! No yelling in the hallways!" Mrs. Darbus smiled. "Although...that picture of you _is_ rather humorous, I must say."

Chad turned, if possible, redder than he already was and looked at the floor. "Note to self," he muttered, "never, _ever_ bump into Sharpay."

"You've got that right!" Sharpay called out from the front of the crowd. "Coming soon to a theatre near you! Chad, the musical...with none other than Chad himself singing, dancing and looking just like this!"

Chad scurried away before more damage could be done.

**--**

Meanwhile, on the rooftop garden, Gabriella was sitting in Troy's lap on the bench. They were both laughing hysterically.

"That...was...hilarious!" Gabriella choked out. "Did you see Chad's face?"

"I dunno..." Troy grinned at his girlfriend. "I have a funny feeling that Sharpay is actually going to go through with staging a musical. Poor Chad!" He paused. "But...yeah, it is pretty funny."

Gabriella smiled and snuggled into Troy's chest. "And _why_ did she want to get back at him so badly, again?"

"He bumped into her during the recording plan." Troy chuckled and pulled her closer.

"Ah, the plans...do you think we'd have gotten together if they just left us well enough alone?"

"That's arguable," Troy said, "but I think yes, we would have. Eventually. After all, we're meant to be." He smiled down at her. "By the way, that was a really sweet thing you said when we walked in."

Gabriella blushed. "Well, it's true," she muttered. "I _have_ loved you for a long time."

Troy kissed her forehead gently. "And I've loved you practically since I first met you."

Gabriella rested her head on Troy's shoulder, content to just be with him. "In any case," she said quietly, "whether the plans really worked or not...I'm glad that we're together now."

"Yeah...now and forever," Troy said, almost inaudibly. Realizing what he'd said, he blushed and looked down, only to meet Gabriella's loving eyes.

"Definitely," she whispered. "I have no doubt about that. We've been through hardships before...and we can handle them." She kissed him, and then pulled back, a smile on her face. "You don't have to be embarrassed, by the way."

Troy smiled sheepishly. "I'm embarrassed about more when I'm with you," he admitted. "I guess you're just that special."

They sat there for an immeasurable amount of time, holding each other, until...

_RING!_

"Evil bell!" Troy groaned. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again!"

Gabriella giggled, taking his hand as they rushed down the staircase to join their friends. _I'm glad we finally admitted our feelings,_ she thought as she ran. _Being with Troy is only going to get better from here. _

THE END

**A/N: It's finally finished! Shout out this time to JoBro-Jelsi Luver, tashLOVE and ncy555. Hope you liked my story!! And now for the BIG list of thank-yous:**

**FOR STORY ALERTS: SkyChasm, pandora511, Splitster7, HSM88, Cassie-Lee-91, starry3y3dangel, crazyandproud344, zanessaandashlover, Kisha84, laalaa1123, snoopyloverwhohasahighvoice, WhiteRose6136, BrenShorter, blue-mani-pedi, ncy555, boltonxmontez (love the name, by the way!!) and evil-sami-poo. **

**FOR STORY FAVOURITES: ZaNeSsAObEsSeD102, JoBro-JelsiLuver, laalaa1123, mai-thebored, crystal8701, darlingxoxonikki, StaB MY HearT, SaltyPretzels.14 and boltonxmontez!**

**And in advance to future reviewers, alerters and favouriters!! (I loved typing that.) **

**starbook **


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